Review

Review Summary: Swing Kids is the perhaps one of the most important and best punk bands of the 1990s. And this album rocks.

Swing Kids would have to be one of the most highly influential bands of the 1990s. Consisting of Eric Allen, Jose Palafox, [b]John Brady[/ib], and the brilliant Justin Pearson (also the founder and owner of Three One G records, where the band released their music) - this became one of the most important - and best, punk outfits from the '90s. This band was not only (alone) basically responsible for elevating the emoviolence scene to the punk public; they are also very important for the hardcore punk and art hardcore scene in the US.

They were influenced by fellow San Diegan hardcore bands Antioch Arrow and Drive Like Jehu, and also various other punk bands (especially Joy Division, which they - as you might have guessed from looking on the tracklist, cover on this album)). Their music is chaotic, angry and upset about something. So's the lyrics. And it ain't just chaotic, angry and upset - it's also very technically good. A broad sound, with highly creative guitar riffs, accompanied by fitting bass riffs and at times jazzy - at times fast and angry drumming makes the wall of sound that Justin Pearson either shouts passionately, or speaks eagerly over. The angry, confused and zealous poetry in the lyrics are bound to raise some hairs on your body.

Justin Pearson are by some considered an "Ian MacKaye of the '90s". Not without reason. There are quite a few similarities between Justin Pearson and Ian MacKaye.
Tthey both started their own record labels. They both started out in lesser known bands ([b]Teen Idles{/b] & Struggle). They both played in more (commercially) known bands afterwards Fugazi & The Locust). It's also worth mentioning that they both have been vocalists and bassists in a lot of various bands.
They are also both very important. And brilliant. Swing Kids are technically superior to many other contemporary punk bands. They make highly creative melodic and chaotic music. But still. They are characterized by Justin Pearson's beautiful voice of chaos. And not at least the amazingly well written words, that obviously are really upset about something. E.G. "Let the sucker burn. This sickening infection. The only thing melting in the melting pot is human flesh. Lies written in human blood. Lies." are the lyrics from the song "Disease".

This discography album consists of the band's self-titled 7" EP, the tracks from a split 10" EP (with Spanakorzo), and an unreleased track only available on this CD. It's just over twenty minutes long. Twenty wonderful minutes. There are only nine songs on this album, so you really get to absorb them properly. This album really digs into your brain, and stays there. If I were to compare it to other albums, the first ones that comes to mind are Everything Falls Apart by Hüsker Dü, the discography album by Minor Threat and perhaps the self-titled discography album by Rites of Spring - even though RoS is a bit slower than this madness, Justin Pearson kind of reminds of Guy Picciotti, passion and technical wise.

The songs are quite varied. It starts of hardcore with "El Camino Car Crash", and continues to get more and more aggressive - up until "Disease", which sounds more like free jazz than anything else. Well. The first one and a half minutes, at least. Still shows Palafox's ability to master the drums quite well.
The songs that really stood out to me at first, were the mentioned "El Camino Car Crash" and "Disease", as well as the Joy Division cover "Warsaw" (it's from that song they got the Three One G name) and my personal favourite piece of chaotic rage - "Blue Note", where Justin screams "I'm sorry to say, but it's not over" quite a few times, and later on "Maybe it's because we're all so incomplete" a few times over Eric Allen's genius, atmospheric guitar play. Also "Forty Three Seconds" is quite a gem. Brady's bass line is extraordinary good, and never fails to fall in the trap of playing the exact same thing as Allen's guitar. Justin's lyrics and vocals are perhaps at their peak here as well. When he goes "Just another kid on the beat, yeah" - you know you're witnessing something big.

All in all, this collection of emoviolence is a essential to any emocore fan. I have failed to find a single dull moment on this album. It's definitely worth all the stars I'm giving it. You should probably buy this, if you are a fan of high quality punk music. It's got everything. Attitude ("El Camino Car Crash" and "Warsaw"), passion ("Line #1" and "Blue Note"), classy tunes ("Disease" and "Forty Three Seconds") and rage ("Situation on Mars", "Clean Shade of Dirty" and "Intro to Photography").
Everything. 'Tis a brilliant album. And I really, really recommend it to any punk fan. If you don't have this album in your collection - you're truly missing out on something big.

"It's time to stop singin', and start swingin'" with the Swing Kids and their discography.

Justin Pearson are by many considered an "Ian MacKaye of the '90s". Not without reason. There are quite a few similarities between Justin Pearson and Ian MacKaye.

Here's the main three:

1. Justin Pearson & Three One G and Ian MacKaye & Dischord Records

involved with and heavily influenced by the forerunners of the San Diego hardcore punk scene of the 1990s.

2. Justin Pearson & Struggle and Ian MacKaye & Teen Idles

3. Justin Pearson & The Locust and Ian MacKaye & Fugazi.

So; they both started their own record labels. They both started out in lesser known bands. They both played in more (commercially) known bands afterwards. It's also worth mentioning that they both have been vocalists and bassists in a lot of various bands.

They are also both very important.

is totally extraneous and probably should be removed.

Your summary is pretty much retarded, and your grammar is very shoddy over all. You should probably fix these things.

Other than that, it was a pretty well written review. This Message Edited On 01.21.07

Quick question how can a band who are supposedly the most important punk of the 90s have a discography of nine songs. Although i admit to not having listened to the band.This Message Edited On 01.21.07

I just think its ridiculous to say this band that no one has really heard on this site could be the most important punk band of the 90's, when so many other bands have had such a far greater impact. Jawbreaker and Refused have both had a far greater impact, while inside of emo, City of Caterpillar and Indian Summer have both had a tremendous impact on the sound of emo in general.

lunchforthesky: if you really haven't heard of Swing Kids, Justin Pearson or 31G, you're not into this sort of music (enough).

canyoneer: bands like Refused would be nothing without Swing Kids. if you were an eager Refused fan, you'd know that Refused state Swing Kids as a major influence. City of Caterpillar is third wave, and would be nothing without Swing Kids. I'll admit that Indian Summer is a huge band. but not _as_ huge as Swing Kids.

trustfxdialect: this is all they've recorded. and - it's an emoviolence band. emoviolence is a subgenré of emocore, hardcore, punk, rock. you know the tree. emocore is closer than punk.

Uh, I can safely say that just about anyone who listens to emo has heard of Indian Summer before they've heard of this band. And even then, look at the comments in this review. Plenty of people who listen to emo haven't heard of this band ever, but I'm sure have heard of Indian Summer or Moss Icon. To say this is the most important punk band of the 90's is just absolutely factually incorrect. Just because they might have influenced Refused doesnt mean that they in a roundabout way influenced all of the bands that consider Refused their main influence (Underoath, Strung Out, etc.). The association doesn't work that far out, and in fact, I doubt many of the bands influenced by Refused have even heard of this band. Whatever. Continue this flawed train of thought in this thread if you continue to feel that this is the most important punk band ever.

I never said 'twas the most important punk band of all time. you are purposely over-exaggerating. I said 'twas perhaps one of the most important (and best) bands from the 1990s. I realize now that I have a typo (I forgot the "ONE of" part), but I stand my ground. Swing Kids are important. Justin Pearson is important. 31G is important.

and stop being pretentious by saying 'tis and 'twas, nothing personal but it's douchebagular

it's like the entire review is a pretentious force-feeding of "this band is better than anything you have ever heard before." there's a lot of bias in here and it distracts me from your writing.This Message Edited On 01.22.07

ok, descendents1. you don't like that I write 'tis 'n' 'twas. oh my. what will I do. I guess I'm a pretentios cock sucker then.

hail pixiesfanyou.

if you guys haven't heard of Swing Kids, it says more 'bout you than it does 'bout me. 'course you're pissed. someone says a band is important, and you dunkno 'bout it. if you seriously think City of Caterpillar or Refused are more important than Swing Kids, fine by me. but in my musicworld - they are. and I'll bet'chare able to find more people out there that'll state Swing Kids as a huuuuuuuge band, that made a huuuuuuuuge impact on the punk scene. so I suggest you check out the band instead of whining of how you've never heard of it before. that's what I do when I get tips on bands that I haven't heard of.

I appreciate the critique - but leave the "Swing Kids suck" and "I haven't heard of them" stuff outta here, a'ight lads? k. have a good one, or summat like that. cheers.This Message Edited On 03.18.07This Message Edited On 03.18.07